SAGA (Kyodo) The municipal assembly of Genkai, Saga Prefecture, adopted a statement Friday calling on the town's government to accept Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s offer to begin electricity generation using uranium-and-plutonium mixed oxide fuel (MOX), at the No. 3 reactor of its Genkai nuclear plant.
In response, Genkai Mayor Tsukasa Terada is expected to officially announce the town's acceptance of the so-called pluthermal plan, designed to work off a growing stockpile of spent nuclear fuel.
Saga Gov. Yasushi Furukawa announced Feb. 7 that the plan, to which the government gave approval in September after safety assessment procedures, is safe.
Pluthermal, or plutonium-thermal power generation, burns MOX made from spent fuel at nuclear reactors.
The method, approved by the Cabinet in 1997, is now at the center of Japan's plan to recycle the growing stockpile of spent fuel from the country's nuclear plants.
Following the town's move, Gov. Furukawa is expected to give final approval to the plan based on discussions starting at the prefectural assembly on Feb. 21.
Kyushu Electric applied to the central government in May 2004 to install a pluthermal reactor. It has submitted petitions to the Saga Prefectural and Genkai Municipal governments to gain their consent.